An Athletic Director Thread

[gorillawarfare]

The points system initiated by Long was supposed to be the answer to this.  It was a way to balance lifetime versus annual giving.  During the most recent basketball reallocation they posted a calculator that would tell you your current standing among donors both overall in your class.  It would also tell you what a hypothetical donation or annual increase would do to your position all else equal. 

That doesn't completely answer your question I know, but it's one thing they've done to try.  Truthfully I can see both sides of it.  The big issue I have with the current baseball reseating (and the basketball before it even though I wasn't a ticket holder at the time) is that it didn't give any option for keeping current seating.  There was no "increase your giving by this amount and you keep your seats" like we had in the previous baseball plan back in 2022.  The only option was "give this much more and you'll get an earlier selection time."  And of course there's the problem of not letting everyone know until shortly before the season starts, and after we had already made our pledges (although you can always increase them).  I'm sure a lot of affected people would have completely stopped giving had they known they were going to lose their preferred seats and/or boxes. 

. I told them to bump my donation from $2k to $3k a year and the dumbfucks never processed it and stuck me in the upper deck last year.  I'm just going to get tickets on stub hub when I feel like going.  Sitting in the upper deck all year and looking at my empty seats all year was the final straw for me.  They won't see another dime from me as long as this clown shoes AD is around.

[buff2.0]

So how do other schools handle it?  I know winning cures a lot, but we seem to have more than our fair share of empty seats.  You'd never notice if you believed the university's reported attendance.

[woodhog14]

I don't get the complaining about this.  Many of us have complained about the terrible in-game atmosphere compared to other SEC teams.  This is actually a rare occasion where they appear to be spending money in the hopes of future return in increased ticket sales or retention. 

I don't get it either. Most, if not all, SEC teams already had the light thing. Our fans bitched we didn't have it. We get lights and they bitch we spent money on it. So dumb.

I was at the Vandy game and sat in the Vandy section. They had a light show between the 3rd and 4th qtr. The fans got into it. I asked some Vandy fans if their lights were new and they told me this was their 2nd year with them.

We do have the 4th dumbest fanbase, but sometimes I think we're the first.

[woodhog14]

I heard a lot of complaints from my brother and some other friends in town last week that the stadium decided to install those fucking scan your cc and then grab and go type shops in the stadium now similar to the amp does for drinks and it all went haywire and stopped working the other week. Broncos do this at their stadium and I'm always like are they scamming me and also are they just adding tip without my consent

They have had this for several years now, it's not new to the stadium. In fact. Baum, BWA and DWRRS all have it.

[SwahiliSteve]

Do we still serve Pepsi? That's the real question

[woodhog14]

Do we still serve Pepsi? That's the real question

We've had Coke for 3 years now. Keep up.

[animal]

How many broken feet though 

[Hognrock]

I don't get it either. Most, if not all, SEC teams already had the light thing. Our fans bitched we didn't have it. We get lights and they bitch we spent money on it. So dumb.

I was at the Vandy game and sat in the Vandy section. They had a light show between the 3rd and 4th qtr. The fans got into it. I asked some Vandy fans if their lights were new and they told me this was their 2nd year with them.

We do have the 4th dumbest fanbase, but sometimes I think we're the first.

Hell, our high school baseball and football fields have LED lights that are programmable (used after a HR/TD/win/etc).  Granted that is on a different scale but I don't get the bitching about it either.

[wmr]

How do you handle someone who wants to give $5million but there are no boxes available while a lot of the folks with boxes have been giving $100,000 for years and years?  How do you juggle that without pissing anyone off? 

You leverage those donors to add additional suites.  We've been told for years that the structure would support a second level.

You at least give people a little more notice.  This came out of the blue and had a very short timeline, and it came after many had already given their donations to the athletic department.

[wmr]

The points system initiated by Long was supposed to be the answer to this.  It was a way to balance lifetime versus annual giving.  During the most recent basketball reallocation they posted a calculator that would tell you your current standing among donors both overall in your class.  It would also tell you what a hypothetical donation or annual increase would do to your position all else equal. 

That doesn't completely answer your question I know, but it's one thing they've done to try.  Truthfully I can see both sides of it.  The big issue I have with the current baseball reseating (and the basketball before it even though I wasn't a ticket holder at the time) is that it didn't give any option for keeping current seating.  There was no "increase your giving by this amount and you keep your seats" like we had in the previous baseball plan back in 2022.  The only option was "give this much more and you'll get an earlier selection time."  And of course there's the problem of not letting everyone know until shortly before the season starts, and after we had already made our pledges (although you can always increase them).  I'm sure a lot of affected people would have completely stopped giving had they known they were going to lose their preferred seats and/or boxes. 

This was a big part of it. Some learned after the fact that different donors sharing the same suites could combine their lifetime giving totals.  The whole thing was rushed and handled poorly.  Announce it a year in advance.  Hell, announce it 6 months in advance, and give people time to plan how to financially approach it.  This was a 40-day window to make a huge financial decision.  Fans could have combined their suites and cut ticket numbers per donor, and a lot of people would have at least tolerated it.  They managed to piss all over some of the baseball programs most loyal longtime fans.  People who could afford it, but said fuck it at least partially due to how Yurachek handled it.

[wmr]

That's my thought as well, but wmr's comment above seems to be that he doesn't agree with that.  Or did I misread his comment? 

40 days from announcement to cough-up-the-funds day.  Very shitty move.  Disrespectful, even.

[wmr]

Anyway, how do we get Dough McMillion or some other former higher-up from Walmart who is friendly with the Walton clan?

Yurachek is toast.

[wmr]

doublefuckin post.

[arreferee]

The points system initiated by Long was supposed to be the answer to this.  It was a way to balance lifetime versus annual giving.  During the most recent basketball reallocation they posted a calculator that would tell you your current standing among donors both overall in your class.  It would also tell you what a hypothetical donation or annual increase would do to your position all else equal. 

That doesn't completely answer your question I know, but it's one thing they've done to try.  Truthfully I can see both sides of it.  The big issue I have with the current baseball reseating (and the basketball before it even though I wasn't a ticket holder at the time) is that it didn't give any option for keeping current seating.  There was no "increase your giving by this amount and you keep your seats" like we had in the previous baseball plan back in 2022.  The only option was "give this much more and you'll get an earlier selection time."  And of course there's the problem of not letting everyone know until shortly before the season starts, and after we had already made our pledges (although you can always increase them).  I'm sure a lot of affected people would have completely stopped giving had they known they were going to lose their preferred seats and/or boxes. 

Thanks.  The point system does make sense.  I'm sure it's a tough situation to be in when you have life-long donors who get passed over because of newer donors giving more money. 

[arreferee]

You leverage those donors to add additional suites.  We've been told for years that the structure would support a second level.

You at least give people a little more notice.  This came out of the blue and had a very short timeline, and it came after many had already given their donations to the athletic department.

Thanks.  Adding more suites would definitely be a positive for the program.  I didn't realize it was such a short timeframe.

[piglosopher]

The 40 day notice is bad management and just bad business. At least with the information we have.

You make unpopular moves and raise prices in increments right, for example subscription and streaming services.

Disney streaming started out at $7 now its $21.50. 200% increase since 2019.

Anyway

It seems purposeful to pull the rug from long time mid-level donors. Notwithstanding many of them understandably gone for good, if there's not a herd of ultra rich donors ready to replace them, it's unfathomably stupid and short sighted business-wise.

[DrMongoose]

You leverage those donors to add additional suites.  We've been told for years that the structure would support a second level.

You at least give people a little more notice.  This came out of the blue and had a very short timeline, and it came after many had already given their donations to the athletic department.

The law of supply and demand says to build a 2nd deck, would be a no brainer with additional suites. Should have done that instead of the north end zone at football

[SwahiliSteve]

https://x.com/tylerdavis93/status/2113813441341166043?s=46&t=m_RTTyQoOXCKni9LyjoM3g

[bigpig]

That quote is ice cold. Good on him for saying it.

[Lurk]

Well, that ought to put a dagger in Yurachek.